


do i wanna know? (if the feeling goes both ways)

by isacabral



Series: in another life you must have been mine [8]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Buffy AU, F/F, Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2019, day three: [evil] doppelgangers, you better believe this is another
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 05:40:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isacabral/pseuds/isacabral
Summary: When a spell goes a little wrong, Chloe finds herself having to face another (unexpected) part of herself. For the Pitch Perfect Horror Week 2019.





	do i wanna know? (if the feeling goes both ways)

**Author's Note:**

> all of my work has been officially unbetaed since my bff is in the middle of the ocean being grossly in love with his wife. so all mistakes are mine and i have no regrets.
> 
> enjoy!

In her early high school years, Chloe was marked as a shy, naive nerd with a light and quirky sense of humor. But ever since she’s become best friends with a vampire slayer and started testing the boundaries of magic, the redhead found herself growing out of her shy, computer nerd shell and into a powerful, self-confident witch.

At least, that’s how she saw herself. Her friends and other people in general.... Well, they had a harder time accepting it.

_ Exhibit A — the Principal’s office _

“As far as I'm concerned, this is a marriage made in heaven,” said Principal Smith, a sinful glint in his eyes. “Chloe Beale, despite her... _ unsavory _ associations,” Chloe was sure he was talking about Aubrey and her slayer-forming habit of skipping class to kill vampires, “represents the pinnacle of academic achievement at Barden high,” he turned to look at the broad-shouldered football player sitting next to her. “Thomas West represents a devastating fast break and fifty percent from behind the three point line.”

“I’m not sure I understand the marriage part,” Chloe frowned.

“You've got the brains, he's got the fast break.” Principal Smith explained. “It's a perfect match.”

“I want you to tutor him. Tom is flunking history. Nothing seems to be able to motivate him.”

No matter what argument Chloe used to get out the situation, Principal Smith kept bullying her into accepting it. As if she had nothing better to do.

_ Exhibit B _ — _ The Library Above the Hellmouth _

“So he threatened you? With what?” Aubrey was indignant.

“It wasn't anything exactly that he said,” Chloe shrugged, feeling dispirited. “It was all in his eyes. I mean, there was some nostril work as well, but mostly eyes.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “Smith needs me to kick his ass.”

Chloe smiled at her friend, feeling a little better. “Don’t worry, I'll be okay. I just hate the way he bullies people! He just assumes their time is his.”

At that precise moment, Aubrey’s Watcher Gail entered from her office.

“Chloe, get on the computer. I want you to take another pass at accessing the Mayor's files.”

Seemed like Smith wasn’t the only one assuming Chloe’s time was their own.

_ Exhibit C _ — _ School Hallway _

Chloe was walking down the hallway towards her locker when she saw her girlfriend Beca waiting for her with her trademark smirk.

“Hey, gorgeous,” the brunette greeted her.

“Becs!” Chloe hugged her fiercely. “Where were you yesterday? I’ve missed you.”

“You’re suffocating me here, dude,” Beca complained, but hugged Chloe back just as fiercely. “We got back late last night. Like, _ very _ late.”

“We?” Chloe frowned. “We who? Where?”

“The band,” Beca answered, taking Chloe’s hands as they started walking down the hall. “We had a gig in Monterrey Sunday night and it was a long way back home.”

“I didn’t know about that,” Chloe pouted, feeling a little left out.

“I’m sorry babe, I thought you did,” Beca squeezed her hand softly, trying to apologize.

“Maybe I’d have liked to go with you,” Chloe didn’t know exactly what kind of point she was trying to make, but she was still feeling a little off.

“Didn’t figure you wanted to miss school, dude,” Beca laughed, which just caused Chloe to feel worse.

“You think I’m boring!” she complained, uncomfortably aware that her voice was signaling the arrival of her fast approaching tears.

Beca’s eyes widened and she stopped dead in her tracks. “Wow. What a radical interpretation of what I said.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, trying to keep her tears from falling. “Whatever, Beca.”

“Hey,” Beca tried to reach for her hand again, but Chloe took a step back. “We’re playing at the Bronze tonight. Wanna come?”

“I can’t, I have homework,” she mumbled, still refusing to look back at her girlfriend.

“Well, if you get done early… ‘kay?” she could tell from Beca’s tone she still wasn’t sure what had happened.

To be fair, neither was she.

Chloe simply nodded and walked out as Beca entered her classroom.

//

Around fifth period, Chloe had figured it out. She was bitter.

She felt resentful that everyone in her life, from her school principal to her friends, even her girlfriend, thought she was some kind of old-faithful-reliable source of knowledge that was okay with being used until she ran dry.

She wasn’t people’s homework doormat anymore and she wanted to prove it, damn it! She just needed an opportunity to do so.

Thankfully, that opportunity presented itself just as she was aggressively munching on a banana in the school lounge hall.

“Chloe?” a girl that looked sort-of familiar whispered her name, causing her to look up from where she was sitting.

“Uh, hi…”

“Lilly,” the girl whispered again. “I’m new here.”

Chloe leaned in closer to better listen to her. “Okay, hi,” she said, a little nervously.

“I need your help,” Lilly said and Chloe felt a wave of dread hit her in the guts again.

“Yeah, well, that’s me,” she deadpanned. “Reliable dog geyser person. What do you need help with?”

“I need your help with a spell.”

Chloe perked up right away, getting up from the couch and dropping her banana on the floor. Now _ that _ was the kind of help she had been hoping to get asked for.

However, being a secondary witch to create a temporal fold wasn’t as easy as Chloe had originally thought. There was light, like, a lot of it streaming from the ceiling, wrapping both her and Lilly in electric auras. It made her see... horrible things. Death. Fight.

She wasn’t sure a necklace was worth all this trouble.

The light suddenly got sucked back in and the girls broke apart, breathing hard. Suffice to say, Chloe was more than a little freaked. And Lilly was pissed.

“That’s a little blacker than I like my arts,” Chloe managed to say when she regained her breath.

“Don’t be such a wimp,” Lilly growled, her voice louder than Chloe had ever heard.

It made the hairs on her neck stand prickly.

“That wasn't just a temporal fold, that was some weird hellish place!” Chloe nearly shouted. “I don't think you're telling me everything.”

“I swear, I'm just trying to find my necklace,” Lilly replied, her voice still dangerously angry.

“Yeah, well, I don’t trust you anymore. I’m out of here. Goodbye, Lilly,” Chloe stormed out but she still was able to hear Lilly angrily trashing the room behind her.

Suppressing a shiver, Chloe kept walking. She just wanted to get home.

//

Chloe was home, working on Tom's history paper, but her thoughts were far away. She felt as frustrated as she was the first time she tried to contact the spirit world.

Being utterly unprepared for it, she found herself being pulled apart from inside — and blowing out the power for the whole street block with her. And she was feeling the same way again.

This couldn't be all she was known for; she didn't even care that much about her academic achievements! It just came easily to her and it was all part of her good girl act; the one that kept her mom showing up during parent-teacher conferences to say she was proud of her — even if she hadn't glanced at Chloe for over two weeks because she had always been too busy — and the one that prompted her father to send her a card and transfer a hefty amount of money into her barely touched bank account.

When she performed magic, though… for the first time in forever, Chloe feels like herself. It was a way for her to get in touch with her emotions and actually control them, displaying them back to the world in a way she felt more comfortable in.

Apparently, though, if she died today all she'd be remembered for would be homework and top grades. Chloe angrily eyed the paper she had been working on before forcefully powering off her monitor.

She was about to change that.

//

When Chloe arrived at the library, it was to find Gail, Aubrey and Emily sitting around the table, entirely shell-shocked and very much silent.

“Guys? What’s going on?” she asked, causing them all to turn and look at her, stunned.

“Geez, who died?” Chloe said in a deadpan voice, then turned serious when everyone just kept staring at her. “Oh, no. Who died?”

Instead of answering, Emily simply sprung to action, jumping up and grabbing a cross, holding it towards a wide-eyed Chloe, her hands trembling.

“Back! Get back! Demon!” her voice was thick with emotion.

When Chloe just kept staring at her in surprised concern, Emily pulled the cross away, shook it, held it to her again. Nothing made sense.

Aubrey had risen more slowly, eyes wet, yet hopeful. “Chloe? You’re alive?”

“Aren’t I usually?” Chloe argued back, still confused.

Rather than answering, Aubrey merely sprung forward, hugging and crying a still bewildered Chloe. Seconds later, the hug is joined by Emily.

“Guys… I love you, but you’re suffocating me,” Chloe found herself repeating Beca’s words and it took a moment for her friends to let her go.

She turned to Gail.

“What's going on with these guy—wHOAH!” Chloe found herself trapped in another bear hug.

“It’s nice that you guys missed me, I guess?” Chloe said slowly, uncomfortable that everyone was still staring at her as if she had come back from the dead. “Geez, you didn’t eat an entire batch of Cynthia-Rose’s special brownies again, did you?”

“Chloe,” Emily started, her voice shaken. “We saw you. At the Bronze,” she hesitated. “A vampire.”

“I’m not a vampire!” Chloe exclaimed indignantly.

“But you are!” Aubrey intervened. “I mean you were…” she also hesitated. “Gail, you planning to step in with an explanation any time soon?”

“Well, something... something very strange is happening,” the Watcher said, just as clueless as the rest of them.

Chloe was afraid she had gained more than she had bargained for.

//

They ended up finding out Chloe’s evil doppelgänger is a vampiric Chloe from another reality — it turned out that she and Lilly were actually able to create a temporal fold but instead of it bringing back Lilly’s demonic necklace — which, surprise! Another person in their high school class wasn’t a human — it brought back Chloe’s leather-wearing, lustful and, well, _ evil _ counterpart.

Chloe should have felt horrified and killed her, as all of her friends so strongly suggested. As opposed to that, however, she found herself sympathizing with her doppelgänger.

“This world is no fun,” Vamp!Chloe pouted when they finally managed to capture her at the Bronze.

Chloe couldn’t relate more to her if she tried.

//

They were back at the library, preparing to send Vamp!Chloe back to her own reality when Aubrey finally approached her.

“I'm not sure about releasing this thing into the wild, Chlo,” her slayer best friend sounded hesitant, as if trying not to offend her. “It’s still a demon.”

“I can’t kill her, Bree,” Chloe said calmly, still looking at her vampiric counterpart.

“Me neither,” Beca and Emily said in unison, uncovering the fact that they had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

“I mean, I know she's not me,” Chloe had finally been able to grasp the concept. “We have a big nothing in common, but still,” she shrugged. “We send her to her world, she has a chance. It's the way it should be anyway.”

“Fair enough,” Aubrey agreed. “Are we ready, Gail?”

“I think so,” she turned to Lilly, who had been grouchily helping them. “No tricks, missy.”

“I don't need tricks,” Lilly whispered. “When I have my powers back you’ll all grovel before me!”

Both Chloes rolled their eyes at that.

“Chloe, can you please complete the circle?” Gail asked and Chloe was pleased to notice it sounded more like a request than an order.

It was progress.

When Chloe moved to sit, she found herself face to face with her evil counterpart.

“Good luck,” she said. “Try not to kill people, ‘kay?”

There’s a beat and, before Chloe can help herself, she embraced Vamp!Chloe in an awkward hug. She smiled when she felt the vampire return the hug, then pulled away suddenly, glaring, when she felt her trying to cup a feel.

She went to sit, pouting, and finally completing the circle. In a moment, everything is back to normal. Except Chloe was feeling nothing would ever be normal again.

//

It was Friday, before the bell for first period rang, and Beca and Chloe were sitting in front of the school on a bench, enjoying the sun. Well, Chloe was sitting. Beca was stretched across it, her head laying on Chloe’s lap as she ran her fingers over her girlfriend’s hair.

“Hey,” Beca said, her voice soft and relaxed, eyes closed. “Wanna go out tonight? Date night, just the two of us.”

Chloe stopped her hand’s motion. “Strangely, I feel like staying home. And doing homework. And flossing. And dying a virgin.”

At this, Beca opened her eyes and stood to a sitting position.

“Now, let’s not be hasty, Chloe,” there was a note of desperation in her voice.

“Between me and my evil self, I've got double guilt coupons now, Becs!” Chloe continued. “I see now where the path of vice leads. She messed up everything she touched. I don't ever wanna be like that.”

“What are you talking about?” Beca frowned. “You could never be like that, Chlo.”

“How do you know?” Chloe challenged her, crossing her arms defensively.

“You remember back when we met?” Beca smirked, causing Chloe to laugh a little. “I was a fucking mess, dude. Hell, I still am most of the time. _ Surely _ during the full moon,” she winked and Chloe laughed again. “And yet you never let me give up on myself. You make me better everyday, Chlo, and it’s the same with everyone around you.”

Chloe gave her girlfriend a watery smile. “You mean that?”

“Dude, of course. I love you,” Beca smiled back, leaning in for a kiss.

“I love you too,” Chloe mumbled against her lips before kissing her back.

The bell rang, signaling the start of a new school day.

“So we’re on for tonight?” Beca asked as they walked down the halls of Barden High together.

Chloe gave her a big smile before squeezing her hand. “Hell yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> please let me know what you think!


End file.
